What is the role of gravity in the water cycle?
Gravity causes precipitation to fall from clouds and water to flow downward on the land through watersheds. Energy from the sun and the force of gravity drive the continual cycling of water among these reservoirs. As the water is heated, it changes state from a liquid to a gas. This process is called evaporation.
What stages of the water cycle are driven by the force of gravity?
Which parts of the water cycle are caused by the force of gravity? precipitation, runoff, infiltration, grand water flow.
What is the role of gravity in the water cycle quizlet?
Gravity draws that water vapor back down to the earth’s surface as rain, snow, sleet, and dew. How much water vapor comes from the ocean? Surface runoff that flows into streams, lakes, and the ocean. Then evaporation from the ocean repeats the cycle.
How does gravity affect water flow?
It pulls precipitation down from clouds and pulls water downhill. Gravity also moves air and ocean water. Gravity pulls denser air and water downward, forcing less dense air and water to move upward. The warm water near the surface of the ocean heats up with sunlight and evaporates, keeping the water cycle in motion.
Does water run uphill?
Water in a siphon can flow uphill too, as can a puddle of water if it’s moving up a dry paper towel dipped in it. Even more curiously, Antarctica has a river that flows uphill underneath one of its ice sheets.
How does gravity and sunlight affect the water cycle?
Cool, dry air is denser than warm, humid air, and cool, salty water is denser than warm, less salty water. Gravity pulls denser air and water downward, forcing less dense air and water to move upward. The warm water near the surface of the ocean heats up with sunlight and evaporates, keeping the water cycle in motion.
Which is the most important force in the water cycle?
While sunlight is the energy source, the greatest force propelling the water cycle is gravity. Gravity is the force of attraction between two objects, and Earth’s gravity pulls matter downward, toward its center. It pulls precipitation down from clouds and pulls water downhill. Gravity also moves air and ocean water.
What does gravity do to air and water?
Gravity also moves air and ocean water. Cool, dry air is denser than warm, humid air, and cool, salty water is denser than warm, less salty water. Gravity pulls denser air and water downward, forcing less dense air and water to move upward.
Why does water move downward in the water cycle?
Water moving downward can also meet more dense and water-resistant non-porous rock and soil, which causes it to flow in a more horizontal fashion, generally towards streams, the ocean, or deeper into the ground. If groundwater wants to be a member in good standing of the water cycle, then it can’t be totally static and stay where it is.